Paintwork on a Tiki 21: Questions

Hello,
I am building a Tiki 21 and will soon start painting the hulls (or at least the bottom half of one of them).
I am thinking about painting her just like the one on the photos in the building plans (decks white, lower hulls red), maybe also skipping waterline and antifouling since I could do that later on, if needed.
Now I have some questions about how the paintwork is done properly:
1. Is a high-grade 1-component paint like International Toplac good enough?
2. For the lower hulls I decided to go with Toplac 011 fire red which is hopefully not as pink as it appears on some colour charts I found on the net. For the decks I would like to go with some off white. Anyone knows which Toplac white comes close to that? Maybe Toplac 812 ivory?
3. Is 1 layer of primer and 2 layers of paint enough?
4. Is it possible to paint the whole bottom of the hull (even though International states Toplac is meant to be used above waterline)?
5. Assuming I would do the waterlining and antifouling now - how and in which order is it done usually, starting from the epoxy sealed hull?
6. How much paint is needed for painting decks and hulls?
Thanks in advance for answering,
Marc

marc answers to your questions...
1. yes
2. Ivory is a good option
3. yes should be fine
4. yes, they are only saying to paint above the waterline because toplac has no antifoul properties
5. not quite sure what your getting at with this question.... but it doesn't really matter which order.... undercoat
the whole hull. when completely dry mask the waterline and paint! Are you applying a boot top?
6. pass :D

Hello Peter,
thanks for your answers.
What I wanted to know by 5. is, if there's a different approach of painting the hulls if I decide to go with waterline and antifouling instead of skipping it. I had a look at the homepage of Element II, a Tiki 26 project and her builder seems to skip painting the underwater parts and simply applying antifouling to the epoxy sealed hulls. So I wasn't sure how it is done properly. But I guess I will paint the whole hull first regardless of applying antifouling or not.
A boot top looks nice, but since a Tiki 21 hasn't too much freeboard I think it's not needed. Besides I am already short on time. I may add it later on if I change my mind.
Kind regards,
Marc

Hi Marc
I see what you mean re question 5...
If you are definately going to antifoul, then there is no need to paint the whole hull first, simply paint onto epoxy. It obviously means less paint required hence cheaper maybe??? But if you are not sure paint the whole hull go sailing and antifoul at a later date.
cheers
Peter

I made up my mind.
I will prime the whole hull, paint it above waterline and apply antifouling to the underwater part.
Do you think it's necessarry to paint the interior of the "cockpits" (the section below the hatches) with UV-proof paint?

I worked for a boatbuilder in OZ and he always believed that if you painted the interior of any boat with cheapily available exterior house paint (see local DIY store) then you couldn't go far wrong! Waterproof, hardwearing and UV resistant !

I won't use "coloured" paint for the interior at all because I like the beautiful looks of the quality plywood.
If needed I will use "clear" UV resistant paint to prevent the epoxy sealed areas from suffering.

I have a problem.
I have painted the hull two days ago and parts of it are still tacky, some completely dry.
I have sanded the whole epoxy sealed hull (180 grid), vacuum cleaned it and cleaned it twice with acetone.
My tools were clean, too.
Weather was fine - warm and dry, and the hull is located in a garage.
Anybody has an idea what could have caused that problem and how to deal with it?

I would not use acetone to clean the epoxy surface: soap and water, or alcohol. For now, you will have to wait longer to see if it hardens up. If it doesn't harden, you will have to scrape it off and proceed anew.

Acetone will soften epoxy, as you likely know, so unless used like a tack cloth ([i]barely[/i] damp with acetone), I would worry about using it. On the paint, you used a single-part paint, right? So it's likely not the paint.

My T21 is varnished inside and it looks great. I'm, not a big fan of varnish the decks because you have to do so many coats to get decent UV protection but inside the hulls you don't have that problem. As already pointed out, you get to see what is going on with the wood and mine looks fine despite being 25 years old.
I used underwater primer on the parts that I antifouled. I did just a couple of coats but I have been recommended to do 5 coats!!
Simon
"Tiki Sunrise"

I didn't know about acetone harming cured epoxy.
Some painted areas feel less tacky or even nearly dry now.
I will try to sand the hull within the next days and give it another layer of paint.
Hopefully with better results...
Thanks so far for your help.